[Bradley] Graham and his wife recently purchased Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C., one of the nation’s premier independent bookstores. What was he thinking? “We’re not a dying breed,’’ Graham insists. “There are still enough of us who believe in books to invest small fortunes and the rest of their lives in this wonderful business.’’

Does he plan to drop dead in five years? Because I think his bookstore will be dead by then.